


The Sky's Academia

by FilomeneHara



Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: BAMF Inko, Crossover, Family, Gen, Izuku the mafia heir, Sky Izuku, mafia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-17
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-03-20 08:13:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13713597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FilomeneHara/pseuds/FilomeneHara
Summary: Midoriya Izuku may have been quirkless, but he wasn't  powerless.  His quirkless father wasn't the head of the largest mafia syndicate in the world for nothing after all and the Vongola family was all about inheritance. A Sky burns bright across the generations.He would shake the hero world to its core with his dying will.





	1. Prologue. The boy is quirkless

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there. First chapter of an idea I've had for a long time now. The tag system isn't working very well for me on my tablet so I'll edit that later. I hope you enjoy!

Midoriya Inko, formerly Sawada Inko felt like her world was ending. But if she felt that way, then her son must feel even worse. Being quirkless in this day and age was rare; those few people were shunned by the rest of society for being different. 

He was just like his father. Tsunayoshi Sawada was born without a quirk too. Now, he was the leader of the world's largest crime empire. The mafia was the only place in the world where being quirkless was seen as normal, advantageous even. They didn’t fight with quirks; they fought with flames. 

Dying will flames would only activate if you were in a situation where your life was in danger and you had no other means of escape. Now that nearly everyone had a superpower the likelihood of successfully activating flames decreased drastically. You would save yourself before the need for active flames. On the other side however, the likelihood of those without quirks activating their flames jumped to nearly 100%. The world was a much more dangerous place now, even with pro heroes like All Might around. 

When they were young, and Izuku had been born it had taken a few too many attempts on the life of the young heir for Inko and Tsuna to agree that splitting apart to hide Izuku away was the best option. If he had a quirk he wouldn't likely activate his flames. Tsuna would have to find a new heir at that point, and only introduce them if they were ready to defend themselves. 

Now it was confirmed that Izuku didn't have a quirk. Her hands shook as she called her husband that night. He answered within the first two rings, a note of concern in his voice. 

“ You don’t usually call this late Inko. Did Izuku have a nightmare?” He asked. Inko sighed as a bit of tension left her body. Tsuna would know what to do. 

“No dear he… the doctor told him that he didn’t have a quirk today… he's probably still awake watching hero videos.” She managed to relay the news without breaking down completely. Tsuna was silent as he absorbed the information. 

“I suppose he'll like to speak with me about it. Can I talk to him now?” Inko nodded before remembering Tsuna wouldn’t be able to see.

“I'll go tell him.” She shuffled into the computer room where Izuku was watching the same video over and over, clutching his knees to his chest while tears continued to pour down his face. 

“Izukkun… Daddy wants to talk to you.” Her son perked up at the mention of his father and she handed the phone to him. 

“Daddy…” was the only thing he managed to get out before he was sobbing down the phone as Inko could vaguely hear her husband’s reassuring voice through the earpiece. 

“ It's all right Izuku. I don't have a quirk either, do you think I'm useless?” Izuku sniffed and shook his head. 

“Daddy's the coolest… but… I can't be a hero because I don’t have a quirk.” Being a hero was all he had dreamed of. What was he supposed to do now?

“ Of course you can. You can do anything as long as you do it with your dying will.” Izuku nodded as he finally managed to calm down. 

“Really?”

“Of course. If you feel better now can you hand me back to mummy? I have to speak to her about something.” He gave the phone over to her. 

“This changes things Inko. You know what can happen to someone who doesn’t have a quirk.” She sighed, resigned. 

“What if he isn’t a Sky?” 

“ He still needs to be prepared. The world isn’t kind to people without, Inko. The underworld might be the kindest place for him.” She knew that. But even with her husband at the lead it wasn’t a nice place. It was still the mafia. 

“Let him stay with me in the summers. We'll be in Namimori. Everyone wants to see him… and you.” Inko choked back a sob as her son looked over with concern.

“I can't go back… but Izuku can. I know you and the others will take care of him.” She said before turning to Izuku with a watery smile “ How would you like to visit your father for the summer?” Izuku's eyes widened as a childish grin broke out over his face. His father was the one who always visited him with at least one of his uncles or aunts with him. He could visit everyone. 

“I want to! I really wanna go!” she smiled a bit more convincingly at his enthusiasm. Maybe he wouldn't be like his father. She prayed he wouldn’t have that burden. She prayed he was a Lightning. 

She watched as he left with his father and Gokudera with a heavy heart. One day her son might be the head of a criminal empire… far from being the hero he dreamed of, at least in the eyes of society. Tsuna gave her a look of understanding. He was just as worried about the future of their son. Izuku waved at her excitedly and she returned the gesture. 

He came back to her just as bouncy and excited now armed with an envelope of photos from his time spent with Tsuna and his guardians.   
She looked through the photos with a smile as she listened to Izuku's chatter. Pictures of him sitting on shoulders, doing paperwork with Tsuna, even a snapshot of her son and the prickly Hibari Kyoya napping peacefully in one of the training rooms. It was only as she reached the end, a single white card with her husband’s elegant calligraphy that the stone in her stomach settled to stay. 

He’s a Sky.

She was faced with the inevitable. All she and Tsuna could do was give him a chance at a normal childhood until the day his flames activated. Izuku tugged at her skirt looking up to her curiously. She smiled and ruffled his hair.

“ I’m glad you had so much fun with your father Izukkun. Why don’t we get dinner started?” There was no point in worrying uselessly about the future. She would have to make sure she and Izuku were ready for it. 

“I hope I can remember my training. I've been out of practice for five years after all.” She murmured to herself as she followed her son to the kitchen.


	2. Ignition

Izuku didn’t spare the teacher much attention as he lectured. He was only going to talk about high school choices and Izuku already knew exactly where he wanted to study. He was going to attend U.A, either in the hero course or the general education department. He still hadn't activated his flames, but with the training he received from his parents and his father's Guardians he knew it was possible for him to actually pass the exam even without a quirk.  
He looked up, realizing that everyone was staring at him, in Bakugo's case, glaring. He mentally went over what was said.

“…There's nothing stopping me from applying…” He muttered awkwardly even as Kacchan slammed his palms onto Izuku's desk, setting off a small series of explosions and leaving the desk blackened and scorched.

“You little shit!I am the only one from this school who is going to get into U.A, got it?No quirkless little Deku fuck is going to get it the way.” He growled low, fixing his sharp red gaze on Izuku's wide green ones. 

“It can't hurt to try right?” He managed to get out while the teacher called Kacchan back to his desk. The last look the violent boy shot him let him know this wasn’t over. Izuku shuddered. Even with only the potential for flame activation his classmates were susceptible to Sky Attraction.   
His childhood experience was eerily similar to his father’s. Even down to the fact that they both had nicknames that alluded to them being useless. At least Izuku knew why he was being treated like this. His father had grown up completely in the dark with no clue why he was being treated so badly. It didn't necessarily make him feel good about it, but it did help in giving him more self worth than he probably would have had otherwise. 

The relative peace and safety brought on by class time ended all too quickly for Izuku's taste, bringing with it yet another confrontation with Kacchan as he tried to pack his bag as quickly as possible. The violent teen quickly forced his way into Izuku’s personal space, expression and stance aggressive. 

“Don’t even try applying for U.A Deku, or else. Every good hero’s backstory includes that they were the only one from their school to get in. Don’t try to run that for me with your useless was.” For some reason, despite insisting that Deku was useless and stupid, Bakugo Katsuki still seemed to hold some sort of weird complex. Some part of him still believed that Izuku would succeed despite all evidence to the contrary. 

“I might not even get in to the general department. What’s the harm in me trying Kacchan?” Bakugo grit his teeth, snatching the latest of Deku's analysis notebooks. 

“The point is, someone as shitty and Deku as you shouldn’t even be trying. A quirkless nobody like you should just go jump off the roof and pray you’ll be reborn with a quirk.” With a cold laugh Bakugo ignited an explosion setting his notebook on fire before chucking it out the nearest window. Izuku followed it, leaning out of the open window to check where it landed. He could just barely see it floating in a pond. His bullies left the room, laughing and joking with each other as he sadly finished packing away his things. It could have been worse, he thought as he went to retrieve his ruined notebook. 

“You shouldn’t say things like that Kacchan, if I were anyone else that would be inciting suicide.” He muttered to himself. He was made of sterner stuff than most. He had to be to survive the craziness of his mafia family. But some other child would’ve broken under this kind of pressure. 

Deciding to take a detour home might have been the worst decision of his life, he thought. He'd only had a tiny warning before he was engulfed in some kind of disgusting sludge creature. It spoke to him but he couldn’t quite make out what it said over the roaring in his ears and his own thundering heartbeat. The liquid this creature, or man, was made out of was forcing its way into his mouth, his nose, invading his lungs and filling his mouth with the disgusting flavour of rot and filth. Oh god… this thing was inside of him! He couldn't breathe, his lungs were burning, begging for air. His diaphragm ached and spasmed as he tried to cough out this invading monster. 

He was going to die here. Tears streamed from his eyes as he struggled futilely against the thing holding him. If he didn't do something he was going to die here! Oh god. Please somebody, anybody!

I don’t want to die I don’t want to die I don't want to die I don't want to die I DON’T WANT TO DIE HERE

His eyes flashed orange and there was a flash of flames the same colour bursting to life on his forehead. It might have taken too long to get to that point though. His vision was fading far too quickly. Luckily some outside forced intervened and he managed to take a brief lung full of air before he fell unconscious. 

He woke up to a hand tapping against his face. His vision was blurry as he looked up to his saviour. He looked familiar. Izuku blinked the blurriness away, eyes widening comically as he realized just who had saved him. All Might. The All Might had saved him. He opened his mouth to thank the number 1 hero for rescuing him… or maybe ask for his autograph. Instead he abruptly rolled over onto his hands and knees and promptly vomited some sort of grotesque mix of stomach acid and disgusting sludge. All Might patted his back gently as he tried to cough up as much of it as he could, only speaking when he seemed to have calmed down. 

“Are you quite alright young man?” He asked as Izuku finally turned to him, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. Blame it on the shock, but Izuku didn’t seem to have any trouble talking to his idol.

“I…. Uh, I actually feel really violated. And gross. But thanks for saving me… and probably giving me CPR or whatever.” He said, gaze far away as he wondered how to describe what the he’ll just happened to him. His mom, father, aunts and uncles, he’ll even Reborn was going to freak out when he told them. 

“Think nothing of it! It was my fault for letting him slip away from me in the sewers, this never should have happened. I’m very sorry about that.” The fact that All Might, Number One Hero All Might, apologized to him was superseded by the rest of his words.

“The…. Sewers?” He shook his head as All Might helped him stand. God he felt awful, and he didn’t think it was all because of the sludge villain in his mouth. Did his flames really activate during that or did he just imagine it. He looked over to All Might, who seemed to be shoving a couple plastic bottles that served as the sludge villain’s prison into his pockets. Izuku bowed as All Might once again turned to him. 

“Thanks again for all your help sir! I’m going to go to the hospital and get a tetanus shot. Or twelve. Actually I’m going to go get all the shots.” He said as he straightened up. Some vague sense that something was wrong overcame him as All Might gave him a quick thumbs up.

“That's good thinking Young Man! I must go drop this villain off to the police station!” White steam seemed to be rising off of the man as he turned to leave. Izuku reached out to grab onto the hero only to meet empty air as his voice did the same.

“Are you okay?” Oh well, he thought as his hand dropped back to his side. Even if there was something wrong what could he do about it? He pulled out his phone to let his mother know he would be going to the hospital on his way home. He met All Might and didn’t even ask for his autograph. 

It was only that night when he opened up his notebook that he noticed it was already signed. 

Izuku spent a week away from school recovering from his encounter with the sludge villain. He considered himself lucky that he managed to escape the encounter with nothing more than a bad case of the flu and some rebound from activating his flames. Who knew what sort of horrible diseases that monster could have been carrying? Unfortunately by the end of that week Reborn was already inside his and his mother’s apartment sipping espresso like he’d always lived there. 

“Your father begged me not to come here. But nobody can train a young Sky like I can.” Was his only explanation to Izuku's expression of alarm. There was no way his father would be willing to put him through the same thing he went through. Tsuna never spoke of it, but his guardians were all to willing to share.

“Please don’t shoot me with the dying will bullet.” Reborn only smirked. 

“That's fine I don’t need to. Unlike Dino and Dame-Tsuna you’re actually willing to go along with training. No need for public humiliation this time.” Izuku caught the uttered ‘unfortunately’ at the end of that sentence and shivered. What kind of training was he going to get. Reborn's infamous sadism would probable show through every action regardless. He studied the deceptively young looking man carefully in the hopes he could get Nome sort of understanding for what was about to come. When the curse on the Arcobaleno broke they only aged at twice the speed. Now the man who was over twice the age of his father looked like he was only just into adulthood. It was impressive how many people still underestimated the world’s greatest Hit man. A bottle of pills chucked at his head interrupted his musings. 

“You’re muttering again Dame-Izu.” The man grinned. It was understandably horrifying.

“I’ve never had a willing student before so this will be interesting.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so excited you guys like this idea of mine! I hope I can entertain you all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a garbage fire and I absolutely hate it. But since no amount of editing seems to be helping me hate it any less I'm jus posting it and a better chapter together so people don't hate me.

Izuku wanted to disappear right now. Just slide right down out of his chair and though the floor. Right down into the earth where he could happily suffocate and die. Because this whole situation was so completely ridiculous.

His first day back and he was faced with Reborn wearing a graduation gown and cap and a pair of thick black glasses standing in front of his class. And oh yeah, his glasses were attach to those beaded chords elderly librarians wore. The beads were in the shapes of lizards and suns. 

“Hello class, my name is Reboyama and I will be your substitute teacher for the day.” He claimed, holding a large book in his hands. The title of the book was BOOK.There was a moment of silence, until one brave student raised her hand.

“What happened to our usual teacher?” She asked, another student leaned in to comment.

“I saw him earlier this morning. Nothing seemed to be wrong.” Reborn gave an uncomfortably long pause, and Izuku couldn’t help but worry about his regular homeroom teacher's fate.

“…. Don’t worry about it.” And the lessons continued. 

Reborn lived for the look of absolute confusion bordering on horror that appeared on his student's face when he wore his ridiculous disguises. It was a shame he was no longer child sized and couldn’t wear some of his more… unusual pieces. He would love to see Izuku's expression if he brought out his potted plant outfit or the chestnut one. 

That wasn’t to say there was no purpose for him to be at his newest student's school. He needed to observe Izuku and his classmates.   
The class passed relatively quietly despite Reborn's presence. He was still concerned about what might have happened to his usual homeroom teacher. With Reborn involved anything could have happened. Lunch break brought a confrontation with Bakugo that Izuku was wholly unprepared for. 

“Where the fuck were you all week, shitty nerd?” He growled. Izuku looked up in confusion.

“ I got sick after some disgusting sewer monster tried to pilot my body like some kind of demented flesh mecha. What is it to you?” He blurted out before he could think to say something else. Bakugo leaned back in shock. A little green from the imagery. 

“What the actual fuck Deku?” He asked. Izuku stared him down still trying to figure out why he was even asking. Bakugo held his gaze for a moment before his red eyes slid away from his own. Then he remembered the last thing the other had said to him. Oh. 

“ Did… were you worried I tried to kill myself?” He asked, quiet enough that it wouldn’t be overheard by any of the other students. Bakugo’s glare returned as he slammed his palms on Izuku's desk. 

“Of course not! Who the fuck would worry about a Deku like you?” He yelled, drawing the class’s attention. Reborn made his way over to the two in time to hear Izuku's hushed reply. 

“I get it Kacchan. If I had, it would be really bad for your career. If you pushed someone to kill themselves you'd never be able to be number one. I won’t tell anyone about what you said.” Before Bakugo could formulate a reply Reborn interrupted with unwarranted violence, bringing his book down on Izuku's head. 

“ Deku huh? That's a good one. That’s your name now Dame-Izu.” He said with amusement before levelling his coal black eyes on Bakugo. “Go back to your seat. Break time is over.” Bakugo glared even as he slouched back to his desk. Reborn hummed, returning to the front of the class. 

“I am flabbergasted. How did no one realize how ridiculous your disguise is? Is it a quirk? I thought you were quirkless?” Izuku asked as he and his tutor walked home after school. Reborn, back in his usual suit and fedora only smirked, not bothering to give an answer. 

“Today was very useful. Now that I've seen how you act in a school setting I know how to proceed with your training.” He said, completely changing the subject. The green haired boy was burning with curiosity, but knew asking would be a lost cause. 

“What did you learn?” 

“That you are just like your father. Unfortunately.” Reborn said it like an insult but Izuku still glowed with pride at the comparison. 

“How so?” 

“You're both remarkably strong skies. You both gave off Sky Attraction before properly activating your flames. Hence the bullying. Particularly that blond guy. What was his name, Bakago?” Izuku frowned. 

“What about Kacchan?” 

“He’s a powerful Sky too.” That stopped Izuku short. 

“What?” 

“Even inactive It’s clear. And clearly he’s recognized you as a rival Sky, even if he doesn’t realize it. And you just had to have the opposite reaction didn't you? Just like your father and Xanxus. What am I supposed to do with such idiotic Skies?” The Sawada family had no sense of self preservation whatsoever. Reborn smirked. At least there was never a dull moment

“What do we do now?” 

“ We have less than a year before the entrance exams. Don’t slack off now.” Reborn answered with a dark chuckle. Izuku felt a chill run down his spine. 

This was hell. It had to be. Izuku's thoughts cut off as Reborn shot at him again, bullets biting into the ground near his running feet. This happened any time he ran slower than a dead sprint. They'd been running for a half hour already. 

“You said you weren’t going to shoot me!” He shouted, wasting precious oxygen and earning a few more shots. 

“ I said I wasn’t going to shoot you with Dying Will Bullets. This is just motivation. Keep running with your dying will Deku.” The bastard was keeping pace with Deku without even breaking a sweat. Tears were already streaming down Izuku's face. How was nobody in town noticing this!? Why didn’t his dad warn him!? He dodged yet another bullet with a shriek. 

“Hiiiiiiiiii" Reborn smirked, like father, like son. The boy didn’t even realize he was training his hyper intuition at the same time he was training his body. 

“Faster Deku. If you can’t maintain this speed for at least two hours you’ll face a penalty.” 

“Yes Sir!”

The penalty was mountain climbing. How did Reborn even find a cliff face this sheer? Izuku was going to die. He only had two minutes to go when he collapsed. Reborn just force fed him some Sun pills and brought him to this cliff. He took a moment to be supremely grateful for refined Sun flames in pill form, otherwise he’d be dead right now. Or worse. Still, he wouldn’t complain. He’d asked for this. He wanted to be a hero. If that meant surviving an even more condensed version of Reborn’s infamous tor-tutoring then so be it. 

Izuku decided he hated the hyper intuition training the most. Hyper intuition was a passive ability that couldn’t be strengthened. 

“Think of it like a skill or stat in a video game. It’s already maxed out, you can’t put any more points into it. What we can do is make your ability to recognize it and react to it way faster.” The best way to do that apparently, was for Reborn to hound him mercilessly in order to catch him off guard; sometimes with harmless pranks, but often with terrifying amounts of force. He couldn’t even muster anything more than a squeak of alarm now, even with a one ton mallet making a large crater in the concrete where he was just standing. Reborn was enjoying this far too much. 

“You're enjoying this way too much Reborn.” The hit man actually laughed, which was the most terrifying sound he could imagine. 

“Get running.” His chameleon Leon changed into his gun form as Reborn spoke. He didn’t even finish the sentence before Izuku was gone. This is the most fun Reborn has had in years. 

“ I wonder if U.A needs an extra teacher…” 

The weeks leading up to the entrance exams were one long blur of suffering as Reborn pushed him along one hellish activity after another. Even studying was amped up to the extreme with electric shocks and tanks filled with piranha. He didn’t even need help in studying! He said as much to his father, and only received a blank, resigned look over video chat. 

“ If we ever heard Reborn’s reasoning for why he does anything I don’t think our mortal minds could handle it. Don’t question his methods for the sake of your own sanity Mio Bambino.” It was the look of a man who had seen far too much to be surprised by anything the world could throw at him. A look Izuku was quickly becoming familiar with in his own mirror. 

Reborn’s disguises were the worst, and Midoriya was downright ashamed to be in the man’s presence when he wore them. Not that anybody even noticed that something was wrong. Tsuna swore that Reborn was quirkless, though he too had no explanation for how people never noticed his disguises, especially when he had been trapped in the body of a toddler. Izuku could feel himself dying inside each time Reborn donned a new disguise. 

He had to admit though. Reborn's training paid off. Months of pushing himself beyond his limits on a daily basis had completely changed him. Thank goodness for Sun flames. His stamina and endurance had reached levels it normally took years to reach. Though he’d only just begun to scratch the surface of flame training. 

“You wouldn’t be able to draw them out on your own in time anyway, and it’s required that you have to have any support items approved for the practical exam. Telling the school that you need to take a drug to activate your ‘quirk’ would reflect poorly on you and might affect your chances of admission. That's why we've worked so hard on maximising your agility and hyper intuition. This way you stand a fighting chance even without your flames.” Izuku gave Reborn a look full of suspicion. 

“You know exactly what I'm going to be fighting against, don’t you?”

“Of course I do. It would be cheating if I told you about it though. Do you want to know?” As tempting an offer that was Izuku shook his head. He wanted to get in on his own power. Reborn smirked, pulling an unassuming pair of compression gloves from his pocket, and handing them to the green haired boy.

“Congratulations, your first pair of flame reactive gloves. You can wear these during the exams. I already pushed the paperwork through. Get used to wearing them all the time or else.” The boy accepted them with a hasty nod, already putting them on, flexing his fingers experimentally. He looked up at Reborn, eyes filled with determination. 

“Thank you.” 

“Don’t disappoint me, Deku.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again this chapter is garbage. But it had a few lines that I liked enough to keep and some information I wanted to convey early. But thank You for your patience the next chapter is much better.


	4. The Entrance Exams

This was it. Today was the long awaited U.A entrance exam. Izuku practically vibrated with nerves and excitement as he hesitated outside of the towering gates of his dream school. This would be his first step to becoming a hero. It only stood to reason that he would trip taking that first step, literally. 

‘Well, guess I’ll die.’ 

His meeting with the ground was suddenly cancelled as he found himself suspended above the ground, floating weightlessly. Huh, weird.

“Sorry! I know it's kinda rude to use quirks on other people without their permission but I just thought it would be bad luck to trip and fall here you know?” Someone said from behind Izuku. They sounded like a girl. 

“Uh-uhh, that’s okay. But, do you think you could uhh… put me down now? Maybe?” He flailed his limbs a little awkwardly for emphasis. The girl squeaked a little pulling him upright so he landed on his feet when she deactivated her quirk. 

“Sorry about that!” She apologized again as he turned to face her. She was cute, with big brown eyes and a bouncy bowl cut. He shook his head at her apologies. 

“Don’t worry about it. Thanks.” The girl opened her mouth to say more, but they were interrupted by Bakugo as he pushed his way passed them. 

“Out of the way Extras.” He growled. The girl frowned, cheeks puffed out adorably as she stuck out her tongue at Bakugo's back. 

“Well isn’t he rude.” Izuku gave a hesitant laugh. 

“Yeah… but we should probably get moving anyway.” They parted ways shortly after entering the school, wishing each other luck. It was only later Izuku realized he forgot to ask her name. 

The written test was a piece of cake, Izuku was sure he probably scored somewhere in the upper percentile of examinees. If he didn’t Reborn would probably give him remedial classes, he shuddered at the thought.

The theatre was packed with people, all students taking the practical exam. The sheer amount of competition was staggering to behold. It was just Izuku’s luck that out of all the people in the room, he got stuck sitting next to Kacchan. The other boy glared at him, arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t say anything though, much to the Greenet's relief. He turned his eyes to the stage as Present Mic stepped out to give them a rundown on the practical exam. Izuku gave a sympathetic wince as the sound hero's attempts to rally the crowd were met with silence. He admired the blonds easy confidence as he shrugged off the awkward moment and began to explain the test. 

It seemed simple enough. Present Mic explained the gist of it with the help of an informative animation of himself as a pixelated game character. Robots of varying difficulty and point values would be roaming a pre determined field. The goal would be to defeat the most robots during the time limit. It was also of note that people coming from the same school district were separated to prevent them from working together. Which made no sense to the green haired boy, after all there were plenty of people who would excel more given a hero team or as a duo. The whole exam seemed against the formation of teams or duos. In fact fighting robots automatically took out several potential heroes who may not have combative quirks, or even those who had specialized anti-personnel quirks that wouldn’t work on a hunk of metal. 

“- And You there! You with the messy hair. You are extremely distracting with your muttering!” Izuku yelped as he looked up, meeting the eyes of a stern faced boy in glasses. Izuku’s apology was barely audible as he slid down further into his seat in embarrassment. Bakugo gave a derisive snort. 

“Fucking Deku.” 

“Well, as you say young student! The last robot on our list is actually worth… ZERO POINTS! It will be released in the last few minutes of the exam as a sort of… trap or obstacle. You can fight it, but it’s pretty well worthless so why bother.” Present Mic explained. The stern boy bowed to the hero and sat back down. 

“If there are no further questions LET'S GET STARTED!” 

The area for the exam was huge. An urban landscape fenced in by huge walls to simulate a city under attack. And U.A had five of these spaces. That was an awe inspiring amount of money. Granted, Vongola had even better training grounds, but those were greatly helped along by generous use of mist flames. He caught sight of the girl from earlier closer to the front of the group. Maybe he should make his way over to her, wish her luck and ask her what her name is. And then a hand was on his shoulder. Izuku turned to find it was the same stern faced teen who'd yelled at him for muttering. 

“What were you doing? That young lady there is clearly trying to prepare herself for the practicals. Was it your plan to break her concentration?” He could only shake his head at the others accusation. Luckily the test began moments later, quite abruptly. But Present Mic was right, there is no countdown in a real battle.   
The robots were a bit bigger than he expected. That was fine; first, Izuku would need a weapon. Handily enough he managed to scavenge a nice piece of rebar from one of the collapsed buildings. He took down a few robots simply by stabbing their legs and arms to lock up their joints. His progress got a lot faster when he realized they had off buttons strategically placed on them for students who lacked a lot of power. Not that it helped make the exams that much more fair. You had to get pretty close to notice it. Izuku vaulted over another three pointer slapping his hand over the off button while he went, listening to the slow whirr of it powering down. 

“I think that's….16 points.” There were plenty of people around with more points than he had, even the girl with the gravity quirk had 28 points already. He searched around for another robot that wasn’t already someone’s target, when the wail of a siren cut through the field. The ZERO pointer has been released.   
It was huge. Towering over buildings and destroying everything in its way as it lumbered forward. No wonder it was better to just ignore this hulking beast. Who would even try to fight it?

...Kacchan would. If he had time to spare he'd fight it just to prove he could. Uncle Hibari-san would want to as well. But those two were not Midoriya Izuku and he was happy to turn away and find more manageable robots to fight, thank you.

Until someone cried out in pain, it came from the direction of the ZERO pointer.   
The gravity girl was face down, leg trapped under a large slab of concrete and metal-the remains of a building-directly in the path of the hulking robot. She couldn’t get free on her own, and it wasn’t like Izuku had super strength that could help. Still, he found his legs carrying him towards certain death the sensation of his flames exploding through his body had quickly become familiar and right.

Emboldened by this, he lit his gloves as he slid to a stop near the girl, spreading his legs and extending his arms, one forward the other back. He bit down on the desire to shout out ‘X burner’ as he shot out with his flames, blasting the robot to kingdom come in a shocking display of power. 

Unfortunately for Izuku, he couldn’t possibly look cool in front of everyone and you should not attempt a high level technique like XBurner with so little training. He underbalanced his flame output. Overpowing the forward blast to make up for his flame purity. Due to the angle of thrust, instead of slamming into a building, his leg broke and he ended up skidding across the unforgiving asphalt, breaking his left arm as he tried to stop his fall. His slide continued on momentum alone when he finally thought to stop his flames, only ending when he ran into an unsuspecting 1 pointer, managing to bust it in the process. He managed a weak groan as Present Mic called an end to the exam. 

“Are you okay?” The gravity girl asked, having managed to free herself and run over. The flame on Izuku's forehead sputtered out as he turned dizzy eyes on her. 

“I did something super stupid, and I will never hear the end of it But I am fine.” Izuku managed to frown at her even if there were two of her now. “Are you okay?” Her eyes widened, but she smiled at him.

“I’m fine, really. Thank you so much for saving me.” Izuku smiled back at her, this felt a little stupid and he thought they probably looked like a couple of dorks sitting in wreckage and smiling like idiots. That was okay though.

“Don’t worry about it. I did what anyone would have done. Hey, do you think accidentally ramming into this 1 pointer counts as defeating it? I only got like, 16 villain points otherwise. I think I failed.” He asked, only half joking.

“It counts. But damn kid, that was impressive. Where was all that power during the rest of the exam? Holding out for the wow factor?” Present Mic answered, jogging up with a small old woman riding piggy back. Izuku tried to sit up, managing it just barely with the help of gravity girl.

“As you can see I haven’t really perfected the move…” he said with a sardonic smile, gesturing to his broken limbs. Reborn was going to laugh way too hard at this. That was assuming he wasn’t spying on the exam, in which case he was already laughing. The old woman nodded as she hopped down to the ground. She poked at his broken limbs and hummed. 

“All things considered the damage isn’t as bad as I thought. Your limbs need to be re-set, but it’s a simple fix with my quirk.” She said. It clicked, Izuku knew exactly who this was now.

“Oh wow, Recovery Girl in the flesh.” She smiled, and then with no warning, brutally re-set the bones in his arm. Present Mic quickly followed with his leg as Izuku choked on air. The healing hero finished up the treatment with a kiss to his temple and a packet of gummies he didn’t get to eat because he passed out from the sudden drain on his stamina. 

When Izuku finally woke up, a quick look around showed he was in what must have been the infirmary. Recovery Girl looked up from her desk as he sat up. 

“Ah, you’re awake. That’s good. Your arm and leg will probably be a bit sore so take it easy for at least a week. I didn’t heal you completely after all.” Izuku nodded as he stood up, carefully testing out the previously broken leg. It was stable and he could put a fair amount of weight on it. 

“Thank you very much for healing me Ms. Recovery Girl. The old woman waved him off with a small smile and a wave. 

“It’s no trouble at all dearie. You should be getting home, it’s getting late.” He left with a respectful bow and another thank you. 

The train ride home was quiet and consumed by the practical exam replaying in his head on a constant loop. There were so many things he could have done differently. Maybe then he wouldn’t have failed. The one thing he couldn't regret was saving the gravity girl. He would still do that whether he failed for it or not. 

“I still forgot to ask for her name…” Oh well, it wasn’t like they were going to meet again anyway. Time to look at what other schools he should apply for. 

His mom had Katsudon waiting for him. It would be a celebration if he did well, and a comfort if he didn’t. Reborn was there too, as usual. 

“How did you do Izukkun?” His mother asked as he sat himself down at the table. His face met the solid wood as he let out his frustrations in the form of a loud groan. 

“I probably failed.” Reborn chimed in from his other side.5

“You did well enough for a Deku.” He took a sip of coffee. Izuku turned his head to look at the hit man.

“Thanks so much. I just knew you would find some way to watch.” He muttered, sarcastic. 

“Of course. What sort of tutor would I be if I didn’t?” 

“At least I don’t need a bullet to activate Dying Will Mode. I don’t need that humiliation.” Reborn nodded along to his whining.

“You humiliate yourself plenty enough on your own only your second time achieving Dying Will Mode and you try performing an X Burner. You've only seen it a couple of times.” Izuku groaned. While Reborn pulled up a video of the whole event on his phone. As he showed the footage to Inko she looked torn between laughing and, clutching her heart in fear for her son. 

“ That was very irresponsible Izukkun.” She finally said while his slide into a robot repeated on loop. This was the worst. 

“I’m sorry mom. It just sorta… happened. Can we not tell Dad or the others about it? I will never hear the end of it. “ Reborn smirked, phone in hand.

“I wasn’t going to, but since you feel that way I’m sending the video to everyone now.” Izuku shrieked trying in vain to snatch the cellphone away from the world’s greatest Hit man. 

The wait for U.A's letter was excruciating. Was it a rejection or acceptance? Who could tell with Izuku’s middle range performance. At least if he’d done terribly he wouldn’t be worried like this! He supposed it was a good thing Reborn was around to make sure he focused on his training instead of his bottomless anxiety. As it was Reborn was perfectly happy to throw all manner of cruel and unusual punishments in the form of training his Dying Will flames. 

“Remind me why we're here again?’ Izuku asked, already fired up in Dying Will Mode. The shoreline they were standing on looked more like a garbage dump than prime real estate. 

“For training, obviously. You'll be cleaning this beach with your Dying Will. If you don’t get it clean before your letter from U.A arrives You’ll be facing a punishment.” He finished, with a gun waved threateningly in Izuku’s direction. With a yelp, he quickly got started, carrying anything he could away and quickly learning how to vaporize larger objects. As much as he wanted to try practicing his Dad's special move again, the resulting blast would draw attention he couldn’t afford right now. 

Dying Will Mode made cleaning the beach a lot easier than it would have been otherwise. He knew that Dying Will Mode gave a boost to his strength and speed, removing all physical limiters in return for a more rapid drain on his stamina. He could hold it for about half an hour barring any dire situation. 

“That’s not bad, when your father started he could manage about five minutes, but you get your stamina from your mother.” Reborn said from his perch atop an abandoned truck. While she may not look it, Inko was once a formidable assassin, using her quirk to take people by surprise. 

“You don’t know when that letter is going to arrive… I don’t know if you can afford to take it easy.” Reborn warned when Izuku paused in hauling away a mound of trash to catch his breath.He gave the Hit man a withering look, yelping and getting back to his task when all he earned was a bullet whizzing past his face. Reborn smirked. 

It took two weeks for his letter to arrive. Izuku made a lot of progress on the beach, but unfortunately he didn’t manage to remove all the trash so he did end up facing Reborn's punishment. That's how he ended up trusses up, hanging upside down over a kiddie pool filled with piranha watching the holodisc that came with his letter. 

"I am here! On screen! We kept it a secret, but come next year I will be teaching at U.A. Will I be teaching you? Well Midoriya Izuku my boy! You passed the written exam with flying colors, in fact you did well enough to earn a top spot! As for the practical exam, well… 17 points wouldn’t be enough to consider it a pass.” Izuku sighed, he knew that, at least he was accepted to gen ed. But All Might-because it was All Might presenting his acceptance letter!-wasn’t finished. 

“However! Defeating villains wasn’t the only objective of the exam, our heroic teachers were watching the whole time! They were looking for something that true heroes need, bravery in the face of nigh unwinnable odds and self sacrifice in the name of saving others! And you my boy have these in spades!” A video replay of his failed X Burner and subsequent broken limbs played out next to All Might’s image. 

“Not only that you inspired another as well. The young girl you rescued came forward on your behalf! She was so grateful she offered to share some of her own points so that you could pass!” A video of gravity girl speaking with Present Mic took up the entire holo-screen. 

“Such a selfless act! It really warms this hero's heart.” All Might mimed wiping away a tear. " Of course, however, it was unnecessary! With your selfless act of heroism you earned a grand total of 60 RESCUE POINTS! Congratulations young man, U.A is your hero academia! I can’t wait to see you when the year starts.” All Might proclaimed proudly. The video ended, leaving Izuku speechless. And then the waterworks came. He got in! He sobbed Inko running in to see what happened. She screamed, and belatedly Izuku remembered that he was hanging upside down. She pulled the fish away and quickly cut him down.   
“I got in! Mom! I got in!” He sobbed over and over as she cut him out of his bindings.   
“I’m so proud of you sweetie, I knew you would!” She assured him. They sat together for what felt like hours sobbing great big, happy tears. Reborn left them alone. Both of his parents were crybabies. 

The feared and respected Vongola Decimo grinned at his son’s beaming face on his phone. Tears were streaming down his face. Crybabies, all of them. 

“I'm so proud of you! Terrified, and still upset with you for trying the X Burner without any training, but proud all the same.” Izuku laughed wetly. 

“I said I was sorry, it won’t happen again.” He promised. Tsuna knew better than to believe that. His son was somehow more reckless than he was despite having the careful and cautious Inko as his mother. He only hummed in acknowledgement. 

“If you do, I'll be sending you to Hibari-san for remedial lessons.” He threatened. The sparkle in his eyes said it was all in good fun. Izuku gave a mock shudder. 

“Please don’t.” They spent a bit more time talking, before Tsuna reminded him that it was getting late in Japan. The two said their goodbyes. He was dreading the next day to be honest. Kacchan will have no doubt received his acceptance letter as well, and the teachers would have been notified. He prayed they wouldn’t say anything about their acceptances, but he knew they probably would. 

“-and congratulations to Bakugo and Midoriya for their acceptance to U.A. You two are the pride of this school.” The teacher finished his speech and all eyes were immediately turned to Izuku in shock. Then the class erupted with cheers. It was almost funny how quickly people can change their attitudes as soon as the person they’ve mocked and laughed at sees some success. Even if Izuku were inclined to enjoy the new, positive attention he was receiving, Kacchan's furious glare was more than enough to keep him humble. 

He spent the rest of the school year avoiding Kacchan and leading him on wild goose chases whenever the angry blond tried to corner him after school. It was good training at least. He knew he was just making Kacchan even more angry, but if they never spoke again, he would never have to worry about it right?

 


	5. Torches

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for how long it took me to post this chapter. I have NOT abandoned this project. This chapter just fought me the whole way through. I have changed my approach to writing this story so hopefully everything will run a bit smoother from now on.   
> In other news I was also extremely busy. I moved out of my old apartment and moved in with my sister so that I could help her take care of my nephew! He's four months old now and it has been a little difficult finding time to write when he doesn't want to be put down.

“Did you remember to pack your gloves and pills? What about tissues?” Inko asked, hovering as her son knelt in the front hallway to tie his shoes.

“I have everything Mom, don't worry too much.” He assured her as he stood up. Despite this his mother's expression remains a worried frown.

“You remember to call me, or Reborn if you get into any…Family trouble, alright?” she asked. Izuku grinned widely at her. 

“Of course Mom, now I really have to go.” Izuku laughed as he opened the door to leave.

“I love you! Be careful!” She called after her son's retreating back. Izuku ducked his head in embarrassment, but waved back anyway.

He spent the train ride to U.A scrolling through forums, silently thankful Bakugo took a different train. The other boy had spent the last few weeks hounding Deku incessantly, practically frothing at the mouth. After the official rankings came out and it turned out they had both tied for first place in the practical exams he'd been even more insistent on destroying him. Hopefully they would be put in different classes.

He'd already had a sense of foreboding before he opened the door to class 1A, but despite his trepidation he did have to enter the classroom. He took a short moment to stall-admire the accessible architecture- before he shakily opened the door. 

The first thing he saw was Bakugo lounging in a front row seat, his feet on the desk. The strict looking boy who had yelled at him during the exam was also there waving his arms as he tried and failed to chastise the blond.

“-DISRESPECTING THE GREAT HEROES AND HEROINES THAT CAME BEFORE US?!” Bakugo ignored the other student with his usual smug expression; however Izuku knew him well enough to tell that the blond was getting annoyed. 

“I don’t give a shit about our upperclassmen or ‘the heroes that came before us’ or whatever. I don't give a shit about any of you guys either, you know why? Because I'm going to be number one and you are all just stepping stones on my way to the top.” Bakugo continued, growing more threatening “ So you and your uptight ass should get the fuck outta my way.”

This is fine, Izuku thought. The taller boy was getting quite red in the face as he tried once again to admonish Bakugo again. It was like watching someone fight a forest fire with a watering can. He would know, he had experiences both literally and figuratively. 

“ Your language is unbecoming of a hero in training. I suggest you correct that sort of behaviour soon.” It was clear that Kacchan was getting really irritated now, and that this strict hero in training could very well die today, but before Izuku could decide to interfere or duck and cover a girl's voice chirped excitedly behind him. 

“Hey! It's you, the plain looking guy from the exam! I'm super glad you made it! We're even in the same class.” He turned, it was the girl with the floating quirk from the exam.

“Oh! Yeah, actually the teachers told me that you actually tried to share some of your points with me. Thanks for that.” The girl smiled as she awkwardly scratched at her neck. 

“Aw geeze, they did? So embarrassing. I ended up doing something totally unnecessary. Oh right, I'm Uraraka, Uraraka Ochako.” She said with an awkward laugh. Izuku smiled back, temporarily forgetting the active volcano that was Bakugo Katsuki. 

“I'm Midoriya-" Izuku started only to be interrupted by the navy haired boy.

“Midoriya was it? I misjudged you! Clearly you understood the true meaning of the practical exam far better than any of us. My name is Iida Tenya.” Anything else that could have been said was interrupted by an exhausted looking man wrapped in a bright yellow sleeping bag.

“Hurry up and take your seats. I'm not interested in wasting time.” The man was surprisingly intimidating for someone who looked like a caterpillar sucking on a juice pouch. The class quickly settled down, Izuku ducking his head to avoid eye contact as he scuttled past Bakugo to get to his desk behind the blond. 

“It took you all eight seconds to get to your seats. You'll need to be faster if you really want to be heroes.” He said as he stepped out of the sleeping at the head of the classroom. He gave them all a rather unimpressed stare as he placed a hand on top of one of the many boxes at the front of the room. 

“I am your homeroom teacher, Aizawa. Grab one of these uniforms, get changed and meet me at training field A.” With that short introduction, their new homeroom teacher left. Uraraka laughed a little as she grabbed a uniform.

“I guess We’re skipping the entrance ceremony, huh?” Izuku nodded, grabbing his own uniform. 

“ Aizawa is already an interesting teacher.” 

Izuku snuck off to find a quieter corner of the changing rooms,far away from Bakugo to get changed. Now that everything was a bit quieter, he could finally pay attention to his intuition. There was an odd buzz against his senses. Now that he could focus on it, it was a familiar feeling. It brought to mind long days with his father and his aunts and uncles, or more recently training sessions with Reborn. It was the feeling of active Flames. Someone inside this room was already Flame Active. 

Aizawa watched his newest batch of brats file onto the grounds with his usual tired frown. He idly wondered how many of them wouldn't be coming back tomorrow. For a moment he focused on Midoriya. The green haired boy had done very well, even before he used his quirk, Aizawa had seen his potential. And was almost rooting for the boy. 

Then he had been accepted, and suddenly there was paperwork that said Midoriya required special medication in order to reliably activate his quirk. Both the medication and the paperwork were suspicious and set Aizawa on edge. He pulled Midoriya aside. 

“I've been informed that you require ‘specialized medication’ in order to activate your quirk. Why wasn't that information included in your preliminary application?” Midoriya shuffled his feet and sighed.

“ I didn’t want to be judged unfairly for what's barely a handicap. There was nothing in the rulebook that I was required to mention support items in my application provided I didn’t use them during the exam.”

“The official paperwork is vague on the details. Assuming you pass today's test I will need more information as your homeroom teacher. For now I'll only ask, is this a permanent condition?” Midoriya shook his head.

“No sir.” The answer only confused Aizawa more. What caused an emitter type quirk to act like that? 

“Alright, go back to the others.” Midoriya nodded and returned to the group, Bakugo Katsuki glaring at the boy as he passed. Aizawa absently noted the animosity as he addressed the now attentive students.

“ You all passed the entrance exams and made it into the hero course. I suppose I should congratulate you all. However, don’t get comfortable yet! Now, I want to see what you all are capable of. I’m assuming you are all familiar with the yearly fitness exams you took in middle school?” After a few murmurs of confirmation from the crowd, Aizawa continued “ I want to do the same today, except with the addition of quirks.” Excited murmurs from the crowd this time. They were all taking this a little too lightly, Aizawa thought.

“Oh, so you think this will be fun? In that case, whoever is in last place will automatically be expelled.” The class fell into horrified silence as Aizawa grinned.  
They started with the 50 metre dash. When it was Izuku's turn, the boy stepped nervously up to the starting line. Before the countdown finished, he popped a pill into his mouth and ignited. The countdown finished and there was a sound like a space engine. Izuku was on the other side of the track, leaving Bakugo gaping in his dust. 

The blond didn’t stay in shock for long; his expression morphed into one of uncontained rage as he threw himself at Izuku, whose eyes widened.

“What the fuck was that Deku! You fucking tell me now!” Aizawa threw out his capture weapon at the same time he erased the two boy’s quirks. Izuku's flames guttering out seconds after Bakugo's explosions. The green haired boy took a few steps back, eyes wide. 

“Congratulations Midoriya you cleared that in point five seconds. Can you continue?” Aizawa asked, ignoring Bakugo for the moment. Izuku gave a strange little half shrug.

“Um… I’m going to need a bit of time before I can reignite my flames.” Aizawa only nodded.

“I guess you're playing with a handicap now. Let's continue" 

After that outburst the rest of the test passed without issue. Izuku managed to reignite in time for the long jump where he flew a lap around the field. Other highlights included Uraraka throwing infinity on the ball test and Yaoyorozu Momo creating a motorcycle for long distance running. 

“By the way, the expulsion was just a logical ruse designed to bring out your best performance.” Some of the students gave shouts of outrage while others nodded sagely, obviously it would be a ruse. Izuku frowned, tilting his head curiously. Aizawa hadn't been lying when he said he would expel one of them. So what made him change his mind?

The teacher ignored any questions about it, and after their exciting morning the rest of the day was surprisingly normal. 

“Hey Deku!” Uraraka called as they left school for the day. Izuku flinched, turning to look at his new classmates. 

“Um, what?” Uraraka frowned. 

“Isn’t that your name? I heard Bakugo call you that." Izuku gave a nervous laugh at that.

“Ah, no, that's just what he calls me to insult me. My name is actually Izuku.” Iida frowned, considering. 

“If Deku is another way to read Izuku, does it mean useless person?” Izuku nodded. 

“It was actually pretty clever for a 5 year old.” Uraraka pouted, disappointed. 

“Aww, but it sounds so cute though, like ‘You can do It’ or ‘never give up’ you know?” Deku smiled.

“You can call me Deku.” Iida looked to him in surprise. 

“are you sure Midoriya? It is a rather mean thing to call someone.” Izuku waved him off. 

“It’s fine. I never thought about it like that before. I think I really like Uraraka’s interpretation.” Iida didn’t look entirely convinced, but acquiesced. 

Despite all the excitement of the first day at U.A Izuku's mind kept returning to the unknown Flame Acitive hiding in his class. The green haired boy was still to untrained to even know the flame type let alone where they came from. But what could have happened, to activate someone who has a quirk strong enough to be in the hero course? His heart reached out to whoever it was.


	6. Trial By Fire

 

 

 

      Bakugo was many things. Patient was not one of those things. Ever since the U.A entrance exam’s results the blond had been trying to track down that little green weasel and get some answers. How did some quirkless little bitch not only pass the exam, but tie with Katsuki as well? Deku had already been avoiding him ever since that… incident when he disappeared for a week. After the exam results came out Izuku had started actively running from him. He was a slippery bastard.  
Yesterday was the first time in months that he had been face to face with Deku in months, and that… little bastard had just burst into flames like it was nothing! At that moment Bakugo had been so enraged his only thought was to beat the shit out of that lying bitch until he was finally given some answers. He had been stopped by their new teacher and Deku had scurried back like a coward, hiding behind his friends and their teachers for the rest of the day and once again not giving Bakugo the answers he deserved. But once again he was left to stew in his anger.

     How long has Deku had a quirk. How long has he been sitting on his pedestal and lording it over Katsuki as some gigantic secret? He’d only started acting strangely after he returned to school but it was impossible to get a quirk at 14. He would just have to corner him and demand his answers.

     Izuku shivered. Earning a strange look from Uraraka. It turned out they caught the same train in the morning.

    “You cold?” Izuku shook his head, giving a helpless shrug.

    “Someone walking over my grave.” They spent the train ride chatting comfortably.

     Everyone waited in anticipation for the class after lunch. Their first Foundational Heroics class with All Might as a teacher. No one knew what it was going to be like but it was All Might.

     The sound of rapid footsteps approaching the classroom heralded the arrival of the number 1 hero. With the class on the edge of their seats All Might threw open the door and rushed into the room torso first stopping on his toes and holding the doorway with his hands.

    “I am here! Coming through the door like a normal person!” He called boisterously, wearing a horrendously out of date costume. The classroom went dead silent save a few murmurs as All Might practically skipped across the floor to the teacher’s podium. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

     “Good day everyone. Welcome to Foundational Heroics! I am glad to see everyone is present, bright eyed, and eager to learn!” All Might paused. “Right, I thought as this is our first class together we could break the ice with a practical lesson. Today we will have a battle simulation!” He pulled a remote from his pocket and pressed one of the buttons. Panels slid up on the walls and simple silver suitcases slid out of the compartments, each was emblazoned with a number.

     “So without further ado, grab your costumes, get changed and meet me at training ground Beta!” Everyone grabbed up their corresponding cases and headed off to the change rooms closest to ground Beta, eager to show off their costumes. Izuku followed with some trepidation, remembering the evil smirk Reborn had when he told Izuku he’d already sent his costume design in. Upon opening the case Izuku had is worst fears confirmed. A full, three piece, pinstripe suit with a Sky orange clip on tie sat nestled in the case… Of course it would be a mafia outfit. As he pulled that out of the case and set it aside he found a short cape somewhat reminiscent of his Father’s mantela de Primo and some goggles and a headset. At least reborn had left his requested gear alone. The goggles functioned the same way his dad’s old contacts did with the AI connected to his headset. But there were a lot of extra features like facial recognition software and access to internet and GPS tracking. He made a mental note to send his dad a new costume design. Unlike the rest of his classmates, whose designs were sent to a support company affiliate with U.A, Izuku’s costume was handled by a support company run by Vongola’s R&D department. For now he would have to resign himself to dressing like a gangster for a time.

      Izuku was the last to leave the locker room and join the rest of the class outside of the fake city that was training ground Beta, feeling awkward in his formal attire, his orange goggles hung around his neck and the matching headset over his ears. Uraraka noticed him first, bouncing over to him excitedly in her space themed costume.

     “Wow Deku! You’re outfit is so…unexpected… But it looks really cool and mysterious!” She said, going for the optimistic route. He laughed awkwardly, tugging at his cape.

      “My tutor designed it… He probably thinks it’s hilarious.” Uraraka tilted her head curiously.  
   

     “I didn’t know you had a tutor. Is he nice?” Izuku paused before answering, unsure of just how exactly to describe Reborn.

     “Um…No?” He said. The brunette frowned at that. Aoyama joined them with a critical look.

      “I think you look Magnifique Midoriya, but you don’t pull off a cape as well as I do!” The blond did a twirl, showing off his outfit from all sides. Midoriya could think of hundred of ways Aoyama’s outfit could be impractical for hero use, but chose not to say anything.

      “It looks very good on you.” Aoyama preened and left to go find someone else to show off his costume to. Even with a full suit of armor, Iida managed to project his awkward confusion as Aoyama demanded compliments.

     “All right everyone! You all look are starting to look like real heroes!” All Might called the class to order. For a moment his gaze rested on Izuku awkwardly ,‘that’s a hero outfit?’ it seemed to say. The verdant eyed boy shifted awkwardly.

    “Well then! Let’s get right down to business shall we? We’re here in Ground Beta to perform a simple mission. Villains have hidden inside one of these buildings with a bomb. It is the heroes job to go in there and either capture the villains or defuse their weapon. Soo.. for this test you will all be split into teams of two. One team will be heroes, the other tem will play the villains. Heroes must complete their objective before 15 minutes have passed. Villains only need to protect he bomb and no get captured in that same amount of time. Any questions?” The class scrambled to ask questions all at once, most of which weren’t related to the scenario. Iida dutifully raised his hand.

     “How will we be choosing the teams?” All Might grinned

     “Actually, I was thinking we could do it the old fashioned way and draw lots.” He pulled a box out from behind his back. It was almost adorable.

    “Isn’t that a bit irresponsible?” Iida asked, and felt guilty when All Might looked disappointed. Izuku rescued the poor man.

    “As a hero, there will be plenty of times you will have to team up with heroes you might not have even met before. This is a good opportunity to learn how to quickly communicate and plan strategies on the fly.” He said, All Might brightened.

    “That’s exactly right young Midoriya!” Iida nodded seriously.

    “Of course, as expected of a veteran hero.” He said, as if All Might himself had spoken and not Izuku.

    “Right, well, without further ado, shall we draw the names?” The names were quickly drawn and the teams were as followed:

Team A- Midoriya and Uraraka

Team B- Todoroki and Shoji

Team C- Yaororozu and Mineta

Team D- Bakugo and Iida

Team E- Mina and Aoyama

Team F- Sato and Koda

Team G- Jirou and Kaminari

Team H- Tokoyami and Asui

Team I- Ojiro and Hagakure

Team J- Kirishima and Sero

       There was an awkward shuffle as everyone moved to stand next to their new partners. Some looked happier with their arrangements than others. Uraraka smiled at Izuku rocking on her heels in anticipation.

       “Wow, looks like it’s you and me then huh? I’m kinda relieved.” She said. Izuku nodded along awkwardly. At least he knew what his partner was capable of. Now he only had to worry about who they would be up against.

       “Well then! The first battle will be between… Team A and Team D! Team A will be heroes and will be villains! Team D can head on inside and get set up, you have 5 minutes before the heroes are allowed to begin.” All Might said. Mineta raised his hand.

      “Why is it indoors again?” All Might gave a thumbs up, teeth glinting.

      “I’m glad you asked. While most villain attacks seen on tv occur outdoors, statistically the majority of villain encounters actually happen indoors. After all, in this society saturated by heroes any villain with intelligence will be lurking in the shadows.” With that All Might sent Team Midoriya and Team Bakugo to one of the many empty buildings.

      “Well this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to me.” Izuku muttered to himself, as he stood outside, examining the map All Might had provided them. They had five minutes to memorize the layout and come up with a plan to use against Bakugo and iida. Uraraka stretched, much more relaxed than Izuku.

      “At least we don’t have to worry about getting expelled this time.” She said giving the building a look over. She frowned as she caught sight of the green haired boy’s pensive expression.

     “What’s wrong Deku?” He looked up and shook himself out of his thoughts.

     “Nothing really… just… I’ve kinda been avoiding Kac-Bakugo for a pretty long while. He’s probably pretty pissed by now.” He said with sheepish smile. At his partner’s look of concern Izuku hastened to reassure her.

     “It’ll be okay though; he’ll come straight for me. When he does, you go find the bomb, when you find it radio me and we’ll wing it from there. Unless you have anything you wanted to try out?” Uraraka shrugged.

      “I’d rather not leave you alone with Bakugo, but your plan is more likely to actually work. How big a chance do we have of winning do you think?” She asked. Izuku frowned.

     “I don’t know, my… ability is good for speed and maneuverability; but I’m not very good at using it in enclosed spaces yet. If I had to face off against Iida there might be trouble, but only if he doesn’t have the same issues as me. I know Bakugo, so I have a pretty good idea of what he’ll do and how to counter him. Which is why I’ll be the bait.” A chime went off, and All Might spoke through their earpieces announcing that the trial has officially begun. Izuku took a deep breath and popped a dying will pill in his mouth. Uraraka ooed at the at the bright orange flames that ignited on his forehead.

     They decided to fly- and float- up and enter the building through a window instead of going through the front door. With any luck it would give them an advantage, the bomb was likely to be on a higher floor, so long as no one took his ability to fly into account. They found a conveniently broken window they could fit through on the west side of the building and slipped through.

      “When Bakugo finds us, try and see where he came from. I’ll lead him as far away as possible.” He whispered to his partner who nodded with a serious expression. It wasn’t long before they heard Bakugo’s footsteps from above. Uraraka gave a thumbs up and kept herself close to the wall while they waited. Bakugo rounded the corner and threw out a strong right hook to take Izuku off guard, but the other boy was ready; ducking under the swing and executing an expert flip that left the blond on his back gasping for air.

      “Get going!” He shouted to Uraraka while pulling out his capture tape. The brunette was already dashing past and going the way Bakugo came. Bakugo shot up and threw another punch, pulling short and jumping out of range when he noticed Izuku trying to wrap the capture tape around his wrist. They both stood still, sizing each other up.

     “Was it funny to you? Pretending all this time?” The blond asked, Izuku frowned.

     “What are you talking about?” He asked. Bakugo glared, lunging at Izuku with a roar. The green haired boy dodged every explosion as he jumped out of Bakugo’s reach, infuriating the boy even more.

     “All this time you were just laughing! Pretending you didn’t have a quirk until you could rub it in my face!” He used his explosion to get under Izuku’s guard only for his swing to be blocked. Izuku kicked the blond away and put more distance between them.

     “Of course not! It’s not like that Kacchan!”

    “Bullshit! You’ve always been looking down on me!” Bakugo shouted, using Izuku’s momentary confusion to land a solid hit to his stomach. Izuku barely reacted to the blow, grabbing Bakugo’s arm to hold him in place and smashing his own forehead against the Blonds. There was a loud crack and both fell back, dazed. Izuku was the first to recover.

     “I’ve never looked down on you!” He shouted before quickly disappearing around a corner. Bakugo shook his head roughly to get rid of the lingering dizziness. He growled angrily in the now empty hallway..

     “Get back here Deku you Coward!”

     Uraraka found the weapon on the fifth floor, along with Iida, who was getting very into character. She managed to sneak in and hide behind a pillar while the armoured villain was muttering to himself, but she couldn’t help the burst of laughter when her classmate practiced his evil laugh. She gulped when he turned his sights on her.

     “Well, well, well… If it isn’t infinity girl. Looks like you’re here all alone; is my partner keeping your friend busy?” he asked but continued speaking without waiting for an answer. “It’s just too bad I was prepared for you!” He swept his hands out grandly, taking in the entire room which was practically sparkling.

      “I know you use your quirk to make things float, so I made this place spick and span! There’s nothing here for you to use against me! Muhahahahahahaha!” Iida said evilly, advancing slowly on the gravity heroine for intimidation purposes. Uraraka backed away, calling Deku on her communicator.

      “Uhhh… Deku, I found the bomb…” Her partner sounded alright when he responded.

      “That’s good. Where is it?”

      “Center west room fifth floor, but there’s a problem; Iida was ready for me.” Deku frowned. He was hiding on the fourth floor, in a hallway.

      “I’m nearby on the fourth floor. I can try to get to you, but Bakugo is still after me.”

      “What’s the plan boss?” Uraraka asked. Izuku gave a wry smile as he thought for a moment.

       “I have a few plans. One of them is really risky and will probably make us lose a lot of points.  
We’ll save that for last…” Izuku stood and quickly made his way to the room directly below Uraraka and Iida, filling her in on his plans as he did.

       “Got it.” Uraraka confirmed just as Bakugo found him.

       “Found you…” he said with a sinister grin “Even with that flashy quirk all you’re good for is running away.” Deku didn’t say anything, his eyes darted about looking for possible exits.

       “Still trying to run? Give it up Deku and face me already!” Izuku shook his head.

      “You’re predictable as ever Kacchan. Why should I fight you?” Bakugo frowned.

      “You think I’m predictable? Can you predict what these do?” He asked, lifting his arm and showing off one of the gauntlets. Izuku didn’t answer, though he had his suspicions.

      “These gauntlets store my sweat. With these I can make bigger and better explosions. Do you think you can dodge this?” With that the blond aimed and pulled the pin. Izuku could vaguely here All Might yelling through Bakugo’s earpiece while he threw up his own wall of fire to protect him from the blast. His hasty barrier work and Izuku was left blinking away the bright spots in his vision.

      “Bakugo, if you use that attack again I will halt the exercise and you will fail!” The blond gave an annoyed sound.

      “Tch, Fine, I don’t need it to kick his ass anyway.” He advanced on Izuku. The other boy was busy thinking. He and Uraraka were running out of time. Uraraka was effectively useless at this time and if they went with Izuku’s final plan and used Kacchan’s last gauntlet to explode a hole in the ceiling They would lose points or maybe even forfeit the match. His eyes flickered, and stayed on the exit behind Bakugo. The blond followed his gaze and scowled.

      “Still trying to escape? I won’t let you.” He said, moving to intercept while Izuku charged his flames. It was a feint and Bakugo could only watch as Izuku propelled himself back and out of the hole Bakugo had created in the wall. With a scream of rage Bakugo turned and ran.

      Uraraka and Iida both turned to the windows as Izuku burst through with the sound of shattering glass. With only a moment’s hesitation Iida rushed to intercept him.

      “Ah, Midoriya you’ve decided to join us. Too bad for you I will be taking victory! We will prove here and now who is the fastest!” Izuku didn’t answer, instead he continued to try to get past Iida’s speedy defense.  
     

“Give it up Midoriya! Time is nearly up and you cannot get past me!” He said just as the buzzer went off.

      “Heroes win!” Was heard just as Bakugo entered the room. Iida froze in shock and turned to the fake explosive. Uraraka stood there with a small grin, finger pressed against the bomb.

      “Did you forget about me?” Iida fell to his knees.

     “How could I have been so foolish!” The flame on Izuku’s forehead went out and he gave a sheepish laugh.

     “People tend to focus on the bigger threat in the room.” He explained to Iida, it didn’t seem to help.

     “Please return to the class so that we can critique your performances.” Izuku offered Iida a hand and helped the armoured boy to his feet. The four walked back to the class, Bakugo trailing behind.

      The rest of class A greeted the hero team with congratulations and Iida with compliments on his villain persona and ‘better luck next time’s which he accepted graciously. All Might stood in front of the monitors, beaming proudly.

      “Fantastic work dear students, wonderful! Granted, there were plenty of mistakes made but that’s the whole point of these exercises, so that you can all learn from your mistakes in a safe environment. I think I’m going to open the floor to your fellow students. There is nothing quite like a peer review session after all! Anyone like to point out what went wrong?” Yaoyorozu raised her hand.

      “Uraraka didn’t have any countermeasures against Iida’s plan. She became a sitting duck when she couldn’t use her quirk and had to rely on Midoriya. She likely would have lost had Midoriya already been captured or unable to get to her in time.” Hagakure spoke next.

     “Iida was too distracted by Midoriya to notice Uraraka go for the bomb!” All Might nodded.

     “That’s right miss Hagakure! While Midoriya appeared as the bigger threat at the time it is important to remain aware of your surroundings when you fight.” Todoroki raised his hand.

     “Bakugo seemed to prioritize a personal grudge over his mission to protect the package.” Izuku glanced nervously at Kacchan, who simply gritted his teeth, glare fixed firmly ahead.

    “That’s good. He also didn’t value teamwork with his partner for this activity. Midoriya, I commend you for your quick thinking and ability to plan for multiple contingencies on the fly. As for Bakugo.” All Might’s gaze grew serious “Much like your partner you neglected to take your surroundings into account. Using that large scale explosion could have brought the whole building down around you, not only is that dangerous to yourself and others, it is a stupid thing for a villain to do to his own base.” He lectured. Bakugo said nothing, only giving a stiff nod.

      The rest of the matches passed with far less dramatics. The only other incident was Todoroki freezing an entire building. Izuku took borderline obsessive notes on every match. Everyone had amazing quirks that they knew how to use so well. Aizawa had been correct when he said everyone had potential. During one of the matches Uraraka nudged him.

       “I’ve been wondering… how did you know what Bakugo’s gauntlets did before he used them?” She leaned in to ask. Izuku stared at her blankly.

      “I… don’t know, I just did.” Izuku said, sneaking a glance at Kacchan, who was still staring intently at the screens. The blond hadn’t made a sound since their match, instead he seemed to be deep in thought. Izuku frowned. Something inside of him said he needed to clear the air with the blond, that he’d been putting it off for far too long.

      He had to run to catch up to Bakugo after school, leaving Uraraka and Iida behind with a flimsy excuse.

     “Kacchan!” He shouted catching up to the blond near the front entrance. He froze at the nickname and turned to face Izuku with a subdued glare.

     “What the fuck do you want Deku?”

     “I’ve been avoiding this- you- for too long. I need you to know I never lied to you. I never hid a quirk… actually my ability isn’t even a quirk at all.” Bakugo frowned.

      “Then what is it?” Izuku swallowed.

     “I… can’t tell you that.” He admitted.

     “Then how did you activate it?”

     “I won’t tell you that.” Izuku said, looking away and hunching his shoulders. Bakugo barked out bitter laugh.

     “So, I’ve been trying to hunt you down for answers for weeks and now when I want to be left the fuck alone you bring me this half assed shit? Fuck off. It doesn’t even matter anymore. It doesn’t matter if you have a quirk or you’re a fucking magical girl. I lost to you and all those other chucklefucks in class are just as good! I got comfortable with my ability because no one else could measure up. Then I got thrown into the lake and I’m not so big anymore. But not anymore. I’ll be at the top again, and I’ll keep going so just you wait!” He said, determination shining in his eyes.

      “It looks like my pep talk wasn’t necessary after all!” All Might declared as he arrived on the scene.

      “Damn right it ain’t! I’ll be coming for your spot as #1 next so don’t get comfortable!” He yelled before stalking away. All Might laughed.

      “I’ll look forward to it.” Izuku sighed relieved Kacchan was back to normal.

      “I must thank you, young Midoriya for helping young Bakugo regain his spirit. From what I heard during the battle trial your relationship doesn’t seem too good.” All Might commented. Izuku gave a warm smile, almost indulgent.

     “Our relationship is… complicated. He hates me, but I still care about him. I’m like my dad that way.”  
Back at home, Izuku finished telling his mom and Reborn about his day and the incident with Bakugo. Of course Reborn already knew about it. He hacked into the computers and watched. Izuku asked him about Uraraka’s question.

      “You don’t even know that much? You really are Deku. It’s your Hyper Intuition.”

       “But it didn’t feel the way it usually did.” Deku said. Reborn rolled his eyes.

       “Because you were in Dying Will Mode. As you should remember Dying Will releases external limiters in exchange for limiting your ability to think and focus on more than one goal. You’ve trained to be able to function more normally with it active but it still causes you to hyper focus. Things like what your hyper intuition is saying and how to recognize it falls to the side, but it’s still there. You instinctively knew because you picked up on it. The weight of the gauntlets, the sound of liquid inside, the shift in it as it moves etc. Your Dad had similar experiences while in dying will mode and he never achieved the level of awareness you did.” Deku nodded. Hearing about his dad reminded him he needed to talk to him soon. He was still thinking about whoever was already flame active in his class. His father would know what to do.


End file.
